To anyone who wants a short honest review of current state of Age of Conan: Client stability is much better but the game is basically still the same. If you liked the game but quit because of bugs, go resubscribe right now. If you quit because you thought the game (especially the endgame) was boring and there was nothing interesting to do, don't resubscribe because it's still pretty much the same.
I agree 100% with this. I left due to stability issues, and have come back, and I am enjoying myself, as I liked the game before.
I did get an added bonus that I was in my low 50's for level, and have new content waiting for me. Also, the combat now has been improved.
All I need now is some itemization, and the stats issue they are working on will make the game more pleasurable.
But, if you did NOT like the meta game (Tortage), then don't try again, just like I will never go back to LOTRO and that mess.
To anyone who wants a short honest review of current state of Age of Conan: Client stability is much better but the game is basically still the same. If you liked the game but quit because of bugs, go resubscribe right now. If you quit because you thought the game (especially the endgame) was boring and there was nothing interesting to do, don't resubscribe because it's still pretty much the same.
I agree 100% with this. I left due to stability issues, and have come back, and I am enjoying myself, as I liked the game before.
I did get an added bonus that I was in my low 50's for level, and have new content waiting for me. Also, the combat now has been improved.
All I need now is some itemization, and the stats issue they are working on will make the game more pleasurable.
But, if you did NOT like the meta game (Tortage), then don't try again, just like I will never go back to LOTRO and that mess.
Well I have seen quite afew posts about people also liking post tortage AoC better than tortage AoC. I happen to be one of these guys. Also tortage is more instanced than the rest of AoC, so if you are one of the guys that can not stand instancing then wait it out till after tortage.
To anyone who wants a short honest review of current state of Age of Conan: Client stability is much better but the game is basically still the same. If you liked the game but quit because of bugs, go resubscribe right now. If you quit because you thought the game (especially the endgame) was boring and there was nothing interesting to do, don't resubscribe because it's still pretty much the same.
I agree 100% with this. I left due to stability issues, and have come back, and I am enjoying myself, as I liked the game before.
I did get an added bonus that I was in my low 50's for level, and have new content waiting for me. Also, the combat now has been improved.
All I need now is some itemization, and the stats issue they are working on will make the game more pleasurable.
But, if you did NOT like the meta game (Tortage), then don't try again, just like I will never go back to LOTRO and that mess.
Well I have seen quite afew posts about people also liking post tortage AoC better than tortage AoC. I happen to be one of these guys. Also tortage is more instanced than the rest of AoC, so if you are one of the guys that can not stand instancing then wait it out till after tortage.
Also agreed. The world feels quite huge in the main section, as you enter the landmasses, you get an idea that Tortage is just that, a tutorial world.
But, I for one love the 1-20 game, and have played through it several times. So, it just depends on the person...
I think the overall issue is the "OMG you must go back as AOC is so different" posts that rile everyone up. And we have to state the fact that
1. If you at least like how the game starts, then stick it out for more fun as you progress
2. If you hated the "Tortage Experience", at least get off the island before writing it off, as there is a huge world waiting.
The game just feels more cohesive thanks to so many changes. Smoother combat, better performance, more players...that it feels like a good MMO now.
And by 'some people' you mean yourself, right? I mean you DID report his post . Good luck with finding a mod to delete it Alandora has a good point. I am disgusted by the misinformation on these forums. Some people seem to do anything they can to bend the truth. This is worse than World War II propaganda. To anyone who wants a short honest review of current state of Age of Conan: Client stability is much better but the game is basically still the same. If you liked the game but quit because of bugs, go resubscribe right now. If you quit because you thought the game (especially the endgame) was boring and there was nothing interesting to do, don't resubscribe because it's still pretty much the same.
<Mod edit>
Everything I said is the truth. If you ignore technical aspects, Age of Conan is still the same game it was at launch. This is a fact. If you read positive comeback reviews, they always say the same thing: 'Game is a lot smoother now.. No more disconnects!.. etc.". Nobody ever says: 'Wow, there is so much more to do now!.. Endgame is not boring anymore!". You know why? Because it's still the same game but with less bugs and technical issues. I can guarantee that people who hated the game at launch will hate it just as much today.
Just a sideview, according to xfire, since so many ppl seem to use it over here, AoC is reaching new values and rising in population on the last days.
Yep, congratulations to the OP and others for getting AOC players to use Xfire to prop up it's numbers.
The marketing of Xfire on AOC forums is only rivaled by the marketing of AOC before launch.
AmazingAveryAge of Conan AdvocateMemberUncommonPosts: 7,188
Originally posted by Alandora
Originally posted by tryklon
Just a sideview, according to xfire, since so many ppl seem to use it over here, AoC is reaching new values and rising in population on the last days.
Yep, congratulations to the OP and others for getting AOC players to use Xfire to prop up it's numbers.
The marketing of Xfire on AOC forums is only rivaled by the marketing of AOC before launch.
Good thing is that Funcom never staged any X-fire events just like Mythic with WAR and CCP with EVE have done to get people to Download xfire and support the games with it. Hosting dev chats there to promote it all.
Originally posted by AmazingAvery Originally posted by Alandora Originally posted by tryklon Just a sideview, according to xfire, since so many ppl seem to use it over here, AoC is reaching new values and rising in population on the last days.
Yep, congratulations to the OP and others for getting AOC players to use Xfire to prop up it's numbers. The marketing of Xfire on AOC forums is only rivaled by the marketing of AOC before launch.
Good thing is that Funcom never staged any X-fire events just like Mythic with WAR and CCP with EVE have done to get people to Download xfire and support the games with it. Hosting dev chats there to promote it all. Nice to see FC is above that.
As a recent player lvling to 80 AoC is one of the best out there, it really is. Endgame however is still one of the worst, it lacks in so many areas. I hope they put as much effort into endgame as they have everything else....If they do this game will be right up there. Time will tell.
I agree. Endgame is hands down the worst part of AoC. They should add some new endgame pvp content. Right now pvp endgame is mainly ganking in Kheshatta which is really boring.
Another thing, take a look on the start of this thread. In hindsight it is kind of fun to read the doom and gloom comments from the naysayers. *Leaning back self contently knowing that I was right* .
If the hate squad don't feel like keeping this thread running I would suggest to put in on hold for a couple of weeks and then come back to it, to have a look on the continuation of the trend.
#43 The climb continues. www.xfire.com/games/aoc/Age_of_Conan_Hyborian_Adventures/ Another thing, take a look on the start of this thread. In hindsight it is kind of fun to read the doom and gloom comments from the naysayers. *Leaning back self contently knowing that I was right* . If the hate squad don't feel like keeping this thread running I would suggest to put in on hold for a couple of weeks and then come back to it, to have a look on the continuation of the trend.
When Age of Conan goes back to #50+ are you going to talk about that too? Or just disappear like the last time?
It's funny how when AoC drops in Xfire rating, you say Xfire doesn't mean anything, but when it goes up a couple of steps, you start 10 new threads about it, saying how Age of Conan is populaar again
Get real, will you? Age of Conan is number 43. Number 43. Do you know how bad that is for an MMO that was supposed to be a WoW killer?
At one point AoC was #4. Now it's #43. What does that tell you?
WAR had a lot of problems and still it's #17, which is way better than AoC, dispite the fact that AoC has been around longer and has had more time to polish.
#43 The climb continues. www.xfire.com/games/aoc/Age_of_Conan_Hyborian_Adventures/ Another thing, take a look on the start of this thread. In hindsight it is kind of fun to read the doom and gloom comments from the naysayers. *Leaning back self contently knowing that I was right* . If the hate squad don't feel like keeping this thread running I would suggest to put in on hold for a couple of weeks and then come back to it, to have a look on the continuation of the trend.
When Age of Conan goes back to #50+ are you going to talk about that too? Or just disappear like the last time?
It's funny how when AoC drops in Xfire rating, you say Xfire doesn't mean anything, but when it goes up a couple of steps, you start 10 new threads about it, saying how Age of Conan is populaar again
Get real, will you? Age of Conan is number 43. Number 43. Do you know how bad that is for an MMO that was supposed to be a WoW killer?
At one point AoC was #4. Now it's #43. What does that tell you?
WAR had a lot of problems and still it's #17, which is way better than AoC, dispite the fact that AoC has been around longer and has had more time to polish.
Well having something like +50% increase in population in as little as 4-5 weeks was hardly something that was expected before the holiday. Yet again we are where we are today. For all you know, AoC might even have another +50% over the next 4-5 weeks, and where would we stand then? I say, let the case rest for now and revisit it 2 weeks down the road.
The WOW killer is not dead yet, and it's not over till it's over!
Well having something like +50% increase in population in as little as 4-5 weeks was hardly something that was expected before the holiday. Yet again we are where we are today. For all you know, AoC might even have another +50% over the next 4-5 weeks, and where would we stand then? I say, let the case rest for now and revisit it 2 weeks down the road.
The WOW killer is not dead yet, and it's not over till it's over!
You know...I love this game, but YOU my friend are setting yourself up for a big letdown.
I will be happy if the game keeps it's current niche of players, but your expectation of such massive growth is unjustified. No data shows this game getting back to where it was.
I will be happy if they can keep around the 40's or 50's at least, but you just keep setting yourself up for ridicule by all the haters...
Why not chill for two weeks yourself, and go play or get some fresh air.
Well having something like +50% increase in population in as little as 4-5 weeks was hardly something that was expected before the holiday. Yet again we are where we are today. For all you know, AoC might even have another +50% over the next 4-5 weeks, and where would we stand then? I say, let the case rest for now and revisit it 2 weeks down the road.
The WOW killer is not dead yet, and it's not over till it's over!
You know...I love this game, but YOU my friend are setting yourself up for a big letdown.
I will be happy if the game keeps it's current niche of players, but your expectation of such massive growth is unjustified. No data shows this game getting back to where it was.
I will be happy if they can keep around the 40's or 50's at least, but you just keep setting yourself up for ridicule by all the haters...
Why not chill for two weeks yourself, and go play or get some fresh air.
Thanks
Fresh air is a good idea. I find it scary when some people post 20+ posts a day defending a computer game. Why do they do that? Why not just play the game if it is in their opinion that good?
I think after DX10 we will see another jump in Xfire numbers after which AoC will drop to about #45 and stay there until the end.
There is no way this kind of 'mature' niche game will make it back to top-10 now that people have seen what it really is.
There is no way this kind of 'mature' niche game will make it back to top-10 now that people have seen what it really is.
With other words, seen how it never could be more than a niche game. I said it in the AoC beta, and I still say it now, the fundamental building blocks of this game is not going to hold many paying players. The game engine is old (just an updated AO engine), and you could really see the BIG contrast between graphics and playability. Its like trying to make Pacman with DX10 graphic. The content takes too long to release cos of the heavy to work with engine. It should be made far easier. A good example is how popular NWN1 got campared to NWN2. The engine was the big difference, the tools for making the world.
AmazingAveryAge of Conan AdvocateMemberUncommonPosts: 7,188
Originally posted by S1GNAL
Originally posted by PecanNuts69
There is no way this kind of 'mature' niche game will make it back to top-10 now that people have seen what it really is.
With other words, seen how it never could be more than a niche game. I said it in the AoC beta, and I still say it now, the fundamental building blocks of this game is not going to hold many paying players. The game engine is old (just an updated AO engine), and you could really see the BIG contrast between graphics and playability. Its like trying to make Pacman with DX10 graphic. The content takes too long to release cos of the heavy to work with engine. It should be made far easier. A good example is how popular NWN1 got campared to NWN2. The engine was the big difference, the tools for making the world.
The game engine is a brand new one. Built on what they did with AO.
Age of Conan is of course built around zones and not seamless something said from the very start and that the game engine was a design choice again said at the start which allowed them to do different things with the world. Whether people like a zoned set up or not is totally ok, it's all down to personal choice and this is something which won't change. Because it is a propriety engine they have more know how with it in regards to using a 3rd party licensed one. It also allowed them to craft a custom Cuda design for DX10 hence part reason for the delay in adding in extra features there.
What has changed is the content in these zones since launch. Playability in terms on content, balance between classes, the way the game plays in general and so on.
Part of the reason why some feel that the population is increasing is because there are brand new people to the game, and some that have returned too. Difference is like you admitted in another thread you only played the first month some half a year ago plus. Sure the game world might not of changed put pages and pages of updates have been applied and those that have subbed since the start can see the change and feel it in playing the game in several key area's.
There are also a lot of people out there who haven't played still, I remember a gaming convention where heads of studios sat down and basically said the average player plays mmorpg's for 9 months from which time there are more and more people being introduced to the genre. Those new people won't of experienced the changes and probably care less for them if they play as they were not impacted or upset as some others.
Thats not to say everything was all rosey and perfect far from it and the same can be said now, but many of the issues people first talked about after playing simply are not there anymore, unless of course you have the opinion that you dislike how the game world is set up physically from the start.
Take a look at this thread for example: 25th July 2008 maybe around the same time you had left?
Have a read through and you will still see issues with regards to the zones and crafting still but a lot of stuff has been corrected now. Again for specifics in that thread to see you can log in and see changes now and in the short term future many more to come.
Does the game have to not be classed as niche to be succesful? If there are plenty of servers and population to support development (we are talking slightly more servers than EQ2 here) coupled with the amount of population on your particular server being alright. Then who really cares if it is not in the top ten or it is labelled niche. Then is kinda like sheep mentality, and why I think people who find issues with those things would be better off in a game like WoW as at least they would know there are millions of other players playing that they will never meet. Just so long as they are there right?
If your never going to like it's classification by some as Niche or if the Zoned world bothers you I could never recommend the game to you or anyone else. Wouldn't want you to come back here in another 8 months and still moan about that first month knowing within good reason what it would be like before paying for the game if it is against those tastes so much.
The game engine is a brand new one. Built on what they did with AO.
Sorry Avery, basic logic and grammar say something can't be brand new and built on top of something else at the same time.
The first few months post-launch the tooltips for all the armor classes in your character stats showed that much of AoC's core engine was cut and pasted from Anarchy Online, the graphics rendering is new, the core was recycled, I even recognize mob animations from Anarchy Online in AoC.
The saddest difference of the 'new' engine is how much of the data is stored client side and not regularly verified server side, making 'hacking' insanely simple (Warhammer also made this very large mistake as well), just plain stupid as a design function for games claiming to be PvP-centric. might as well give out cheat codes for 'God-Mode'
Edit: Avery as to avoid anymoremis-informationabout AoC you may want to retract your 'game engine is brand new' statement. aoc.wikia.com/wiki/DreamWorld_Engine
As a recent player lvling to 80 AoC is one of the best out there, it really is. Endgame however is still one of the worst, it lacks in so many areas. I hope they put as much effort into endgame as they have everything else....If they do this game will be right up there. Time will tell.
leveling after ~ 60 and endgame were AOC bane. After almost 1 year I was glad to see that they did some changes to leveling, since i still remember how atrocious it was for me to level from 58 or so to 80. The worse thing tho was finding that after all that "effort" there was nothing to do. Apparently (not really aparently , since i have resub for this month and checked out things) they still have not fixed it.
It is going to take FC about almost 18 months (counting from release date) to put the game as it should have been from the start. I hope AOC ends up like most of us, that beta tested it, wished for, but it might be a bit too late .
Tuesday, October 7. 2008 NOTED: Dofus has 10 Million Players, 1.5 Million Subscribers... not bad for a Flash MMO Dofus, the French MMO from Ankama Games, has reached 10 million players and 1.5 million subscribers paying GBP 3.5 (just over $6) per month.
Which is better - a low cost subscription (with free option) or pure Free-to-Play?
Both Runescape and Dofus seem to have a 10% plus subscriber rate which is pretty good. The nice thing about subscriptions is that you can take advantage of the "Health Club Effect" where people continue to pay long after they cease to regularly play your game.
R. Purchese (2008), "Dofus reaches 10 million players",
It's beyond words that someone thinks you can just compare X fire numbers directly between different kinds of games. It is natural for humans to search for answers where they are not given, but in the lack of other ways, an erronous way is not the way to go. X fire can say something about the trend within a game, but never about the total population in each game. IF you could convince me that the games were recruiting from the same pool of people, then we could perhaps have this discussion, but to compare so different a population of gamers as WOW / LOTRO to AoC is beyond meaningless..
for the last and i mean realy last time xfire and igoogle arent accurate maybe its on the rise there but it could still be at a stalmate or decreasing the only way u can know for sure iis if funcome releases a how many players are subbed list
People who think that those numbers dont mean anything are stupid. Xfire shows a percentage of the overall population. Its like a poll. Not everyone votes in a poll but you can get a good idea of what the outcome is since the people voting represent a percentage of the population. Use your heads. I hate AoC but I cant stand people who think xfire and other things dont mean anything. They do. Xfire showed a huge declining population in WAR and it was backed up by servers becoming barren and then server merges. Its not 100% accurate but it gives you a general idea of what is going on in the player base.
for the last and i mean realy last time xfire and igoogle arent accurate maybe its on the rise there but it could still be at a stalmate or decreasing the only way u can know for sure iis if funcome releases a how many players are subbed list
People who think that those numbers dont mean anything are stupid. Xfire shows a percentage of the overall population. Its like a poll. Not everyone votes in a poll but you can get a good idea of what the outcome is since the people voting represent a percentage of the population. Use your heads. I hate AoC but I cant stand people who think xfire and other things dont mean anything. They do. Xfire showed a huge declining population in WAR and it was backed up by servers becoming barren and then server merges. Its not 100% accurate but it gives you a general idea of what is going on in the player base.
I would disagree. The perfect examples are FFXI and City of Heroes. We KNOW their subscriber rates, according to their companies.
FFXI is at #65 and has been noted as having 500k subs, yet at #61 we have CoH, with a stated 150k subs.
That is a huge discrepency.
BUT...Xfire can show trends at least. The trend right now for AoC is an upward spiral due to merges, updates and stability.
for the last and i mean realy last time xfire and igoogle arent accurate maybe its on the rise there but it could still be at a stalmate or decreasing the only way u can know for sure iis if funcome releases a how many players are subbed list
People who think that those numbers dont mean anything are stupid. Xfire shows a percentage of the overall population. Its like a poll. Not everyone votes in a poll but you can get a good idea of what the outcome is since the people voting represent a percentage of the population. Use your heads. I hate AoC but I cant stand people who think xfire and other things dont mean anything. They do. Xfire showed a huge declining population in WAR and it was backed up by servers becoming barren and then server merges. Its not 100% accurate but it gives you a general idea of what is going on in the player base.
I would disagree. The perfect examples are FFXI and City of Heroes. We KNOW their subscriber rates, according to their companies.
FFXI is at #65 and has been noted as having 500k subs, yet at #61 we have CoH, with a stated 150k subs.
That is a huge discrepency.
BUT...Xfire can show trends at least. The trend right now for AoC is an upward spiral due to merges, updates and stability.
Cheers
There are caveats, both on the high side and the low side. CoH and EQ2 have clients that make it nearly impossible for the average user to use Xfifre. The other things to keep in mind is that Xfire is not available for non-english speakers, so games like L2 are highly under-represented.
On the high side, you have things like EVE, where they outright advertise Xfire and give players a chance at free gametime if they play with Xfire running. This is also why some doubt AOC's 'growth' because there were a couple threads on the main forums that promoted xfire, something that WOW and Lotro don't do.
But in general terms.. WOW, Warhammer, AOC, Lotro are very similar in xfire usage. Whenver those games release subscriber numbers, it almost perfectly matches up with what Xfire showed. When AOC had 415k subscribers on June 30th, the Xfire number as almost exactly the same as when Warhammer announced 400k in September.
Comments
I agree 100% with this. I left due to stability issues, and have come back, and I am enjoying myself, as I liked the game before.
I did get an added bonus that I was in my low 50's for level, and have new content waiting for me. Also, the combat now has been improved.
All I need now is some itemization, and the stats issue they are working on will make the game more pleasurable.
But, if you did NOT like the meta game (Tortage), then don't try again, just like I will never go back to LOTRO and that mess.
I agree 100% with this. I left due to stability issues, and have come back, and I am enjoying myself, as I liked the game before.
I did get an added bonus that I was in my low 50's for level, and have new content waiting for me. Also, the combat now has been improved.
All I need now is some itemization, and the stats issue they are working on will make the game more pleasurable.
But, if you did NOT like the meta game (Tortage), then don't try again, just like I will never go back to LOTRO and that mess.
Well I have seen quite afew posts about people also liking post tortage AoC better than tortage AoC. I happen to be one of these guys. Also tortage is more instanced than the rest of AoC, so if you are one of the guys that can not stand instancing then wait it out till after tortage.
I agree 100% with this. I left due to stability issues, and have come back, and I am enjoying myself, as I liked the game before.
I did get an added bonus that I was in my low 50's for level, and have new content waiting for me. Also, the combat now has been improved.
All I need now is some itemization, and the stats issue they are working on will make the game more pleasurable.
But, if you did NOT like the meta game (Tortage), then don't try again, just like I will never go back to LOTRO and that mess.
Well I have seen quite afew posts about people also liking post tortage AoC better than tortage AoC. I happen to be one of these guys. Also tortage is more instanced than the rest of AoC, so if you are one of the guys that can not stand instancing then wait it out till after tortage.
Also agreed. The world feels quite huge in the main section, as you enter the landmasses, you get an idea that Tortage is just that, a tutorial world.
But, I for one love the 1-20 game, and have played through it several times. So, it just depends on the person...
I think the overall issue is the "OMG you must go back as AOC is so different" posts that rile everyone up. And we have to state the fact that
1. If you at least like how the game starts, then stick it out for more fun as you progress
2. If you hated the "Tortage Experience", at least get off the island before writing it off, as there is a huge world waiting.
The game just feels more cohesive thanks to so many changes. Smoother combat, better performance, more players...that it feels like a good MMO now.
Cheers
Just a sideview, according to xfire, since so many ppl seem to use it over here, AoC is reaching new values and rising in population on the last days.
Everything I said is the truth. If you ignore technical aspects, Age of Conan is still the same game it was at launch. This is a fact.
If you read positive comeback reviews, they always say the same thing: 'Game is a lot smoother now.. No more disconnects!.. etc.".
Nobody ever says: 'Wow, there is so much more to do now!.. Endgame is not boring anymore!". You know why? Because it's still the same game but with less bugs and technical issues.
I can guarantee that people who hated the game at launch will hate it just as much today.
I agree, this thread is pretty much about this topic. We have seen a long lasting trend like this now for 5 weeks. Good news for in game population.
Yep, congratulations to the OP and others for getting AOC players to use Xfire to prop up it's numbers.
The marketing of Xfire on AOC forums is only rivaled by the marketing of AOC before launch.
Yep, congratulations to the OP and others for getting AOC players to use Xfire to prop up it's numbers.
The marketing of Xfire on AOC forums is only rivaled by the marketing of AOC before launch.
Good thing is that Funcom never staged any X-fire events just like Mythic with WAR and CCP with EVE have done to get people to Download xfire and support the games with it. Hosting dev chats there to promote it all.
Nice to see FC is above that.
Yep, congratulations to the OP and others for getting AOC players to use Xfire to prop up it's numbers.
The marketing of Xfire on AOC forums is only rivaled by the marketing of AOC before launch.
Good thing is that Funcom never staged any X-fire events just like Mythic with WAR and CCP with EVE have done to get people to Download xfire and support the games with it. Hosting dev chats there to promote it all.
Nice to see FC is above that.
Wow! This comment really made me laugh!
As a recent player lvling to 80 AoC is one of the best out there, it really is. Endgame however is still one of the worst, it lacks in so many areas.
I hope they put as much effort into endgame as they have everything else....If they do this game will be right up there. Time will tell.
I agree. Endgame is hands down the worst part of AoC. They should add some new endgame pvp content. Right now pvp endgame is mainly ganking in Kheshatta which is really boring.
#43
The climb continues. www.xfire.com/games/aoc/Age_of_Conan_Hyborian_Adventures/
Another thing, take a look on the start of this thread. In hindsight it is kind of fun to read the doom and gloom comments from the naysayers. *Leaning back self contently knowing that I was right*
.
If the hate squad don't feel like keeping this thread running I would suggest to put in on hold for a couple of weeks and then come back to it, to have a look on the continuation of the trend.
When Age of Conan goes back to #50+ are you going to talk about that too? Or just disappear like the last time?
It's funny how when AoC drops in Xfire rating, you say Xfire doesn't mean anything, but when it goes up a couple of steps, you start 10 new threads about it, saying how Age of Conan is populaar again
Get real, will you? Age of Conan is number 43. Number 43. Do you know how bad that is for an MMO that was supposed to be a WoW killer?
At one point AoC was #4. Now it's #43. What does that tell you?
WAR had a lot of problems and still it's #17, which is way better than AoC, dispite the fact that AoC has been around longer and has had more time to polish.
When Age of Conan goes back to #50+ are you going to talk about that too? Or just disappear like the last time?
It's funny how when AoC drops in Xfire rating, you say Xfire doesn't mean anything, but when it goes up a couple of steps, you start 10 new threads about it, saying how Age of Conan is populaar again
Get real, will you? Age of Conan is number 43. Number 43. Do you know how bad that is for an MMO that was supposed to be a WoW killer?
At one point AoC was #4. Now it's #43. What does that tell you?
WAR had a lot of problems and still it's #17, which is way better than AoC, dispite the fact that AoC has been around longer and has had more time to polish.
Well having something like +50% increase in population in as little as 4-5 weeks was hardly something that was expected before the holiday. Yet again we are where we are today. For all you know, AoC might even have another +50% over the next 4-5 weeks, and where would we stand then? I say, let the case rest for now and revisit it 2 weeks down the road.
The WOW killer is not dead yet, and it's not over till it's over!
Well having something like +50% increase in population in as little as 4-5 weeks was hardly something that was expected before the holiday. Yet again we are where we are today. For all you know, AoC might even have another +50% over the next 4-5 weeks, and where would we stand then? I say, let the case rest for now and revisit it 2 weeks down the road.
The WOW killer is not dead yet, and it's not over till it's over!
You know...I love this game, but YOU my friend are setting yourself up for a big letdown.
I will be happy if the game keeps it's current niche of players, but your expectation of such massive growth is unjustified. No data shows this game getting back to where it was.
I will be happy if they can keep around the 40's or 50's at least, but you just keep setting yourself up for ridicule by all the haters...
Why not chill for two weeks yourself, and go play or get some fresh air.
Thanks
Well having something like +50% increase in population in as little as 4-5 weeks was hardly something that was expected before the holiday. Yet again we are where we are today. For all you know, AoC might even have another +50% over the next 4-5 weeks, and where would we stand then? I say, let the case rest for now and revisit it 2 weeks down the road.
The WOW killer is not dead yet, and it's not over till it's over!
You know...I love this game, but YOU my friend are setting yourself up for a big letdown.
I will be happy if the game keeps it's current niche of players, but your expectation of such massive growth is unjustified. No data shows this game getting back to where it was.
I will be happy if they can keep around the 40's or 50's at least, but you just keep setting yourself up for ridicule by all the haters...
Why not chill for two weeks yourself, and go play or get some fresh air.
Thanks
Fresh air is a good idea. I find it scary when some people post 20+ posts a day defending a computer game. Why do they do that? Why not just play the game if it is in their opinion that good?
I think after DX10 we will see another jump in Xfire numbers after which AoC will drop to about #45 and stay there until the end.
There is no way this kind of 'mature' niche game will make it back to top-10 now that people have seen what it really is.
With other words, seen how it never could be more than a niche game. I said it in the AoC beta, and I still say it now, the fundamental building blocks of this game is not going to hold many paying players. The game engine is old (just an updated AO engine), and you could really see the BIG contrast between graphics and playability. Its like trying to make Pacman with DX10 graphic. The content takes too long to release cos of the heavy to work with engine. It should be made far easier. A good example is how popular NWN1 got campared to NWN2. The engine was the big difference, the tools for making the world.
With other words, seen how it never could be more than a niche game. I said it in the AoC beta, and I still say it now, the fundamental building blocks of this game is not going to hold many paying players. The game engine is old (just an updated AO engine), and you could really see the BIG contrast between graphics and playability. Its like trying to make Pacman with DX10 graphic. The content takes too long to release cos of the heavy to work with engine. It should be made far easier. A good example is how popular NWN1 got campared to NWN2. The engine was the big difference, the tools for making the world.
The game engine is a brand new one. Built on what they did with AO.
Age of Conan is of course built around zones and not seamless something said from the very start and that the game engine was a design choice again said at the start which allowed them to do different things with the world. Whether people like a zoned set up or not is totally ok, it's all down to personal choice and this is something which won't change. Because it is a propriety engine they have more know how with it in regards to using a 3rd party licensed one. It also allowed them to craft a custom Cuda design for DX10 hence part reason for the delay in adding in extra features there.
What has changed is the content in these zones since launch. Playability in terms on content, balance between classes, the way the game plays in general and so on.
Part of the reason why some feel that the population is increasing is because there are brand new people to the game, and some that have returned too. Difference is like you admitted in another thread you only played the first month some half a year ago plus. Sure the game world might not of changed put pages and pages of updates have been applied and those that have subbed since the start can see the change and feel it in playing the game in several key area's.
There are also a lot of people out there who haven't played still, I remember a gaming convention where heads of studios sat down and basically said the average player plays mmorpg's for 9 months from which time there are more and more people being introduced to the genre. Those new people won't of experienced the changes and probably care less for them if they play as they were not impacted or upset as some others.
Thats not to say everything was all rosey and perfect far from it and the same can be said now, but many of the issues people first talked about after playing simply are not there anymore, unless of course you have the opinion that you dislike how the game world is set up physically from the start.
Take a look at this thread for example: 25th July 2008 maybe around the same time you had left?
List 5 things you would improve about the game if you had the chance.
Have a read through and you will still see issues with regards to the zones and crafting still but a lot of stuff has been corrected now. Again for specifics in that thread to see you can log in and see changes now and in the short term future many more to come.
Does the game have to not be classed as niche to be succesful? If there are plenty of servers and population to support development (we are talking slightly more servers than EQ2 here) coupled with the amount of population on your particular server being alright. Then who really cares if it is not in the top ten or it is labelled niche. Then is kinda like sheep mentality, and why I think people who find issues with those things would be better off in a game like WoW as at least they would know there are millions of other players playing that they will never meet. Just so long as they are there right?
If your never going to like it's classification by some as Niche or if the Zoned world bothers you I could never recommend the game to you or anyone else. Wouldn't want you to come back here in another 8 months and still moan about that first month knowing within good reason what it would be like before paying for the game if it is against those tastes so much.
Sorry Avery, basic logic and grammar say something can't be brand new and built on top of something else at the same time.
The first few months post-launch the tooltips for all the armor classes in your character stats showed that much of AoC's core engine was cut and pasted from Anarchy Online, the graphics rendering is new, the core was recycled, I even recognize mob animations from Anarchy Online in AoC.
The saddest difference of the 'new' engine is how much of the data is stored client side and not regularly verified server side, making 'hacking' insanely simple (Warhammer also made this very large mistake as well), just plain stupid as a design function for games claiming to be PvP-centric. might as well give out cheat codes for 'God-Mode'
Edit: Avery as to avoid anymore mis-information about AoC you may want to retract your 'game engine is brand new' statement. aoc.wikia.com/wiki/DreamWorld_Engine
leveling after ~ 60 and endgame were AOC bane. After almost 1 year I was glad to see that they did some changes to leveling, since i still remember how atrocious it was for me to level from 58 or so to 80. The worse thing tho was finding that after all that "effort" there was nothing to do. Apparently (not really aparently , since i have resub for this month and checked out things) they still have not fixed it.
It is going to take FC about almost 18 months (counting from release date) to put the game as it should have been from the start. I hope AOC ends up like most of us, that beta tested it, wished for, but it might be a bit too late .
Now add to that advance calculation Dofus on 66 xfire place with 1222 players
http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=254622
As you like to say:
What we KNOW know you cant deduct how many subscribers any MMO have based on Xfire stats.
Futilez[Do You Have What It Takes ?]
It's beyond words that someone thinks you can just compare X fire numbers directly between different kinds of games. It is natural for humans to search for answers where they are not given, but in the lack of other ways, an erronous way is not the way to go. X fire can say something about the trend within a game, but never about the total population in each game. IF you could convince me that the games were recruiting from the same pool of people, then we could perhaps have this discussion, but to compare so different a population of gamers as WOW / LOTRO to AoC is beyond meaningless..
People who think that those numbers dont mean anything are stupid. Xfire shows a percentage of the overall population. Its like a poll. Not everyone votes in a poll but you can get a good idea of what the outcome is since the people voting represent a percentage of the population. Use your heads. I hate AoC but I cant stand people who think xfire and other things dont mean anything. They do. Xfire showed a huge declining population in WAR and it was backed up by servers becoming barren and then server merges. Its not 100% accurate but it gives you a general idea of what is going on in the player base.
People who think that those numbers dont mean anything are stupid. Xfire shows a percentage of the overall population. Its like a poll. Not everyone votes in a poll but you can get a good idea of what the outcome is since the people voting represent a percentage of the population. Use your heads. I hate AoC but I cant stand people who think xfire and other things dont mean anything. They do. Xfire showed a huge declining population in WAR and it was backed up by servers becoming barren and then server merges. Its not 100% accurate but it gives you a general idea of what is going on in the player base.
I would disagree. The perfect examples are FFXI and City of Heroes. We KNOW their subscriber rates, according to their companies.
FFXI is at #65 and has been noted as having 500k subs, yet at #61 we have CoH, with a stated 150k subs.
That is a huge discrepency.
BUT...Xfire can show trends at least. The trend right now for AoC is an upward spiral due to merges, updates and stability.
Cheers
People who think that those numbers dont mean anything are stupid. Xfire shows a percentage of the overall population. Its like a poll. Not everyone votes in a poll but you can get a good idea of what the outcome is since the people voting represent a percentage of the population. Use your heads. I hate AoC but I cant stand people who think xfire and other things dont mean anything. They do. Xfire showed a huge declining population in WAR and it was backed up by servers becoming barren and then server merges. Its not 100% accurate but it gives you a general idea of what is going on in the player base.
I would disagree. The perfect examples are FFXI and City of Heroes. We KNOW their subscriber rates, according to their companies.
FFXI is at #65 and has been noted as having 500k subs, yet at #61 we have CoH, with a stated 150k subs.
That is a huge discrepency.
BUT...Xfire can show trends at least. The trend right now for AoC is an upward spiral due to merges, updates and stability.
Cheers
There are caveats, both on the high side and the low side. CoH and EQ2 have clients that make it nearly impossible for the average user to use Xfifre. The other things to keep in mind is that Xfire is not available for non-english speakers, so games like L2 are highly under-represented.
On the high side, you have things like EVE, where they outright advertise Xfire and give players a chance at free gametime if they play with Xfire running. This is also why some doubt AOC's 'growth' because there were a couple threads on the main forums that promoted xfire, something that WOW and Lotro don't do.
But in general terms.. WOW, Warhammer, AOC, Lotro are very similar in xfire usage. Whenver those games release subscriber numbers, it almost perfectly matches up with what Xfire showed. When AOC had 415k subscribers on June 30th, the Xfire number as almost exactly the same as when Warhammer announced 400k in September.